Busses Between Parks That Close At Different Times

MeridaAnn

Semi-Local Disney & Universal AP Holder
Joined
Oct 22, 2015
My friend is making plans for her birthday at the parks in a couple weeks and had originally stated she planned to park at Hollywood Studios in the morning (rope drop) and then just use Disney transportation the rest of the day to go to Epcot and Magic Kingdom. The problem is, we're planning to stay at least until the fireworks in Magic Kingdom, which start at 9, but Hollywood Studios closes at 8 that day. MK is open until 11.

My suggestion is to just move the car to Epcot or the TTC when we leave Hollywood Studios, but she's wanting to leave the car and ride the boat between DHS and Epcot if we can. So how late do the busses continue between the parks after one of them closes? Does it keep going as long as one of the two parks is open for situations like this, or will they stop going to DHS at all once that park is closed? We don't want to get stranded, but our plan will be a lot more straightforward if we don't have to deal with moving the car mid-day.
 
Is your friend staying on property? If so, I would tell her to just use Disney transportation all day and forget the car all together. If not, maybe she could Uber/Lyft to HS in the morning.
I’m sure someone more knowledgeable on the boards will come along and answer your more specific questions. I hope she has a great trip!
 
Yeah, we're local, so we're not staying on-site, just a one day visit.

Is there a way in general to know the last time that a bus will go to a certain location? I remember hearing that they were implementing bus wait times on the app, but does that include a full planned schedule or just the next bus that will arrive?
 


I believe buses and other transportation vehicles (boats etc.) run until one hour after a park closes. For instance, the last boat leaves DHS dock one hour after DHS closes (so last boat from Epcot to DHS leaves Epcot +/- 30 minutes before that).

IOW, if DHS closes at 8 and MK at 11, the last bus from MK to DHS might leave sometime between 8 & 9. So I agree with you that y’all should drive to MK. Otherwise, if you leave the car at DHS, you could take an Uber from Contemporary to the DHS parking lot!

To answer your question, there would probably be a transportation supervisor at MK or DHS bus stop who could tell you when the last bus would leave MK for DHS. It would probably be before the MK fireworks ended.
 
She could-

A. Park at TTC, walk to poly and take the bus to HS in the morning.

B. Park at HS, and then take a bus from the MK to the Boardwalk or Swan/Dolphin in the evening and then walk to the HS parking lot.
 
You can always take the bus from MK to BW, BC/YC, or S/D and walk to the DHS parking lot.

Another option, park at TTC, then walk to Poly and take a bus to DHS in the morning.

PP: Sorry, my screen froze so it did not show anyone else's post until after I posted. If I had seen yours first, I would not have needed to post.
 


Okay, that's what I figured. Thanks.

So it looks like her options are:

1. Move the car between parks and skip the boat
2. Park at TTC or Epcot in the morning, bus immediately to BW, walk to DHS before it opens
3. Park at DHS in the morning, bus after MK to BW, walk to DHS after dark
 
Okay, that's what I figured. Thanks.

So it looks like her options are:

1. Move the car between parks and skip the boat
2. Park at TTC or Epcot in the morning, bus immediately to BW, walk to DHS before it opens
3. Park at DHS in the morning, bus after MK to BW, walk to DHS after dark

See Alternate suggestions below;

2. Park at MK early in the morning, take the Tram (or walk) to the TTC, walk to Poly, then bus directly to DHS before it opens;
3. Park at DHS in the morning, walk to CR after MK, Uber or Lyft to DHS Parking after dark

I would say forget Epcot as a parking option for the following reasons;

- There is no way to directly access transportation to DHS in time for rope drop that is entirely within you control. No matter which resort she went to from Epcot, the transfer time would likely cause her to miss rope drop. Although there is the possibility of a direct bus to DHS from Epcot, I am not sure if they run early enough to get her to DHS for rope drop, and whether they do or not is entirely outside her control;

- She will need to monorail back to Epcot, which may not be an option if it closes earlier than MK.

OTOH, she can control how early she parks at MK, and also what time she arrives at Poly, which will certainly have buses running to DHS in time for rope drop.
 
I would follow the advice above -- start out the day parking at the TTC. Poly is a short walk from there, and you can catch an early bus to DHS; or Uber/Lyft from TTC to DHS. It will allow your friend to take the boat from DHS to EP. And what I find most important is that your car will be parked at the final destination so you aren't traipsing around late at night trying to get back to a car in an empty parking lot. You don't want to spend an hour that late trying to get back to the car; it may mean an earlier start to your morning to make rope drop at DHS, but I'd rather spend the time early than at the end of a long day.

Happy birthday to your friend and enjoy the day!
 
I would park at the TTC, walk to the Poly and catch the DHS bus there. Or walk over to wear the buses are at the TTC and catch one to DHS although that could be a bit of a wait - we did that once and it was a 45 minute wait for the bus to show up.

Then she can ride the boat to Epcot and monorail over or boat to MK. When she is done with MK, it's very easy to catch the boat or monorail to where her car is parked and she won't have to worry about not being able to get to her car at night.
 
I did this twice in May, one day starting in HS and ending in MK and one day starting in AK and ending in MK. I was struggling with the same thing with having multiple hops through each day. Both days I parked at the TTC, took the 5 min walk to the Poly bus stop and caught the bus there. Worked perfectly. And then my car was really close to the front at the TTC since I got there early enough to get to the first park, so it was a short walk back to the car at the end of the day at MK.
 
Everybody who is saying there is no bus service to a closed park is wrong … or, not completely right. Officially, you cannot board a bus to a closed park from a resort, but … if you tell the driver that you are returning to your parked car, he's supposed to take you. The problem is that you may not see a bus to the closed park, unless it's closed very recently.

However, there is bus service from an open (or recently closed) park to a park that has closed. That is specifically to allow park-hopping Guests to get back to their cars. There may not be buses scheduled to go to the closed park, but if any Guests are waiting in the load zone for the park, dispatchers will do one of 2 things: send a bus to the load zone just for those Guests, or direct the Guests to board a specific bus going to a resort near the park and instruct the driver to drop the Guests at the park after making all the regular stops at the resort. As long as bus service is still taking Guests from a park, service will be provided to any other park to reach a parked car.

The possible exception is MK to Epcot. The Epcot Monorail usually closes 1 hour after Epcot closes. I'm not sure that Guests at MK would be able to get a bus to Epcot after the monorail has shut down. I would expect that they'd be accommodated, but it might be on an exception basis, as in a coordinator or manager taking them in a van.
 
Everybody who is saying there is no bus service to a closed park is wrong … or, not completely right. Officially, you cannot board a bus to a closed park from a resort, but … if you tell the driver that you are returning to your parked car, he's supposed to take you. The problem is that you may not see a bus to the closed park, unless it's closed very recently.

However, there is bus service from an open (or recently closed) park to a park that has closed. That is specifically to allow park-hopping Guests to get back to their cars. There may not be buses scheduled to go to the closed park, but if any Guests are waiting in the load zone for the park, dispatchers will do one of 2 things: send a bus to the load zone just for those Guests, or direct the Guests to board a specific bus going to a resort near the park and instruct the driver to drop the Guests at the park after making all the regular stops at the resort. As long as bus service is still taking Guests from a park, service will be provided to any other park to reach a parked car.

The possible exception is MK to Epcot. The Epcot Monorail usually closes 1 hour after Epcot closes. I'm not sure that Guests at MK would be able to get a bus to Epcot after the monorail has shut down. I would expect that they'd be accommodated, but it might be on an exception basis, as in a coordinator or manager taking them in a van.

Thanks, Joel, for adding to my knowledge! I knew WDW wouldn’t leave guests stranded who needed to get back to a resort after park closure but didn’t realize they’d make sure guests got back to their cars at closed parks.
 
Thanks, Joel, for adding to my knowledge! I knew WDW wouldn’t leave guests stranded who needed to get back to a resort after park closure but didn’t realize they’d make sure guests got back to their cars at closed parks.

As the days come to a close, one could pretty much get anywhere if they ask the right bus driver. In the later night, it can also be as easy as going from resort to resort, as long as they are close...(ex
SSR to OKW, or AKL to All Star Resorts) it all depends if the driver is willing to call their dispatcher, and if the dispatcher doesn't need the bus right away, they usually allow. Never know until you ask!
 

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